January is “do or die” time in terms of the woodshed, writing new material and wrapping up records and endeavors for the year ahead. So I won’t have much in the way of shareable news or content till the Spring. That said, here’s a bit of a surprise to keep the site alive!

Kool Kim (of one of NY’s great early 90s rap duos, The UMC’s) aka NY Oil got hold of a video clip of me practicing some soloing ideas and jumped on it with a complimentary rap verse. And it works! Salute to Kim for hearing something in my playing. More music soon! Enjoy:

* If you’re not into the nerd nuts and bolts of music DNA, skip the long caption below and enjoy the music!

Joe Farrell’s “Upon This Rock” is my jam not only because of all they classic breaks, but the insane guitar work (Joe Beck) and the way Jimmy Madison (the drummer) swung his ass off (check his discography). Whole band smokes. Obviously this song has been sampled a billion times yadda yadda so I cut up the other elements from a few of my personal favorite uses of it and put em underneath me playing through all the different breaks in the song.

This sounds nothing close to the original sonically and here’s why: I always thought the first part (Artifacts section) was a ride cymbal groove but after picking it apart, it’s actually a 16th hi-hat being smothered by the long sustain of a riveted cymbal that was hit on the downbeat before the loop (and probably compressed by overheads). That’s where the wash is coming from, with the harder attack of the hi hat underneath, so it’s impossible to get it exact without a riveted cymbal. I used the ride cause well…I don’t have a riveted cymbal (or one with that kind of sustain) so…dassit. Only RJD2 and like 6 other people on this entire Earth would be fascinated by that shit and those psychopaths are probably following this account, but I figured someone would note in the comments would eventually note it.

P.S. – Also, I get a lot of feedback about camera angles. Can’t see my left hand much here. My bad, I’m not a “content creator” so I never think about that! Not much left hand action on this one anyway besides a few ghost notes in the first part. Next time! Here’s the original tunes in the medley:

Always loved this cut. Musician credits on most these 45s remain a mystery. Picking the solo apart took me a few days before I could play it through despite knowing the record well. Salute the Moises app I used to isolate all the stems. And Large Pro because well…

Here’s another slice from our release party a few weeks ago, performing “Amsterdam Ave. Suite”. Hope to be up there more often in 2022!

I have a new album coming out in 2022 called Intoxicated Skull. It’s a jazz-funk library style album with my ace musicians Raff Swink and Pablo helping me out. Above is a clip of “Lil’ Mallet,” one of the solo cuts where I finally got to use the kalimba my mother got me. This is also the last thing I recorded in my studio before I tore down the walls and started renovations last week. New beginnings! More info on Intoxicated Skull soon.

Here’s a slice of “Can’t Buy Groove,” live from the Pressure EP release party last week at Mama Tried in Brooklyn. Enjoy!

Today’s the day! Six tracks deep, funk busting from the seams with elements of rock, jazz and Italian movie score. Get your fill!

10″ vinyl + Digital on Bandcamp

Stream on Spotify

And a special thanks to all who came through our NYC release party last night. We had a ball.

And have a funk-i-tized weekend!

New music! This bad MF Tane hit me up in March about gettin’ down on sum’n and this tune “Cilantro” (under the band name Brothers of My Uncle) is what we got. Above is the video. It was released on Spotify today.

As I approach my 10th year playing drums next week, I’m very fortunate to work with the level of musicians I’ve been able to this early on. Nothing taken for granted! Dig.

Here’s a promo vid for “Bird Brain,” another cut from The Du-Rites Pressure EP. Hit our Bandcamp to preorder 10” vinyl. Ships next week. Out everywhere October 1!

The first single from The Du-Rites Pressure EP has something we’ve never had: real vocals c/o Italy’s own Marianna D’Ama! And real strings featuring violinist Greg Holt. Here’s a promo clip where we discuss how Danger Mouse (and others) have gotten on us since our inception about incorporating vocals.

Pablo and I wanted to pull that off without dipping into the standard retro ’60s soul singer bag and “The Squeeze” is the result.

Stream it here on Spotify

Get streaming/download of the song with purchase of a Pressure EP on vinyl 10″ via Bandcamp pre-order

Pressure is out worldwide October 1.

Dig.